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The Joyes Family. Chapter VIII.
IT was after only three years in America that Patrick Joyes,
of Galway, Ireland, cast his lot with the pioneers, reaching Louisville
in the year 1784. This Irish gentleman, after completing his education
in France and Spain, lived for some time in France, and with his wife,
Anne O'Gara, of Ireland, sailed from Bordeaux and took up his residence
in Philadelphia. Making a business trip to the Falls of the Ohio, he decided
to settle here, and his first home, on the north east corner of Sixth and
Main, remained in the possession of the family for 99 years.
The home of Anne and Patrick Joyes was famed for the hospitality
of colonial days, so little understood by the most genial host of the present,
with parties of friends and later of kinsmen, arriving on horseback and
by stage coach from Virginia and the Central Kentucky settlements, assured
of hearty welcome. Those were the days of the trundle beds and of huge
bedrooms accommodating two or more of the old four posters, one of which
slightly crowds the sleeping apartments of today. The style of entertaining
continued in the Joyes family to the time when horseback rides were replaced
by journeys on steam cars. In 1892, at the country
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home of Patrick Joyes II, near Shelbyville, called 'Oxford" for his
grandfather's boyhood home in Ireland, lavish hospitality was the echo
of the century before. It was at "Oxford" that the second Patrick Joyes,
with his family, spent the last twelve years of his life.
The Joyes family is entirely distinct from the family
of Joyce, whose name is pronounced the same way, and, in fact, with the
exception of an army officer, who emigrated from Galway much later than
the Louisville settler, there are no other Joyeses in the States beside
the descendants of Patrick and Anne Joyes, and comparatively few of them.
Two sons and three daughters were born to the pioneer
couple at the home at Sixth and Main. All married and lived in either Louisville
or Jefferson county. Thomas Joyes, born in 1789, the elder son, is
said to have been the oldest male white child born within the city limits.
Like other patriotic citizens of his time, he had ample opportunity for
military service, figuring in the Wabash Campaign of 1812, and with the
rank of captain fought with the 13th Kentucky militia at the Battle of
New Orleans.
He was a surveyor and spent part of his young manhood
in the office of the county clerk. He was sent to the Kentucky Legislature
several times.
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He was one of the Louisville citizens to be pallbearer
at the re-interment of Daniel Boone's body at the Frankfort cemetery in
1845.
Thomas Joyes was noted as a linguist, inheriting the gift
from his father, who spoke French, Spanish and German fluently. To these
his son added several Indian dialects, and it was of him that Judge Fortunatus
Cosby said he believed if Tom Joyes was shut up over night in the room
with a Russian he would be in full command of the language by break of
day. His early holdings were Jacob's Park, then Burnt Knob, a farm of over
300 acres, and the major portion of Towhead Island (the Guthrie heirs and
the widow of the Rev. John Norton owned a small part of the island). Burnt
Knob was sold by Patrick Joyes II to the city for park purposes when Mayor
Charles Jacob was in office.
Thomas Joyes married Judith Morton Venable, daughter of
Judge Joseph Venable, of Shelbyville, and had one child, Patrick Joyes,
born in 1826, at his grandfather's home on Main street. He was educated
at Centre College and was a graduate of Harvard Law, was a public spirited
citizen and one of the first presidents of the Y. M. C. A. He was also
the first president of the Charity Organization, now the Associated Charities,
served on the board of the Cook
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Benevolent Fund Home for the Aged, and was an elder in the First Presbyterian
church.
Patrick Joyes married Florence Coleman, a great beauty
and a greatly beloved woman, daughter of Chapman Coleman and his wife,
Anna Mary Crittenden. Their hospitable home was on Second street, next
door to Christ Church Cathedral House. They were the parents of six children.
Their daughter, Anna Mary Joyes, married Haiden Trigg Curd, the mother
of Florence Joyes Curd; Mrs. Percy N. Booth, who has two children, Florence
Joyes and Alexander Galt Booth; of Pattie Curd, Mrs. Albert Hueling Davis,
of Jacksonville, the mother of Albert Hueling Davis, Jr.; of Lieut. Joyes
Curd, United States Air Service, recently returned from France and now
at a rest camp in the Catskills. Lieut. Curd was gassed while on duty over
there.
Chapman C. Joyes married Sallie Swope, daughter of Ben
L. Swope, and is the father of Janet Staines Swope and of Thomas Swope,
who has just been released after two years' military service.
Capt. Morton Venable Joyes, Judge Advocate's Department,
Washington, married Caroline Hancock Barr, daughter of Judge John W. Barr,
and is the father of Lieut. Watson Joyes, U. S. Engineers, in France,
of Preston Pope Joyes, who married Nina Harlan Bingham, the
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father of Nina and Preston Pope Joyes, of Florence Coleman Joyes, II,
and of Morton V. Joyes, Jr.
Florence Coleman Joyes I, and Patrick Joyes,Jr., make
their home with their sister, Mrs. Curd, on First street, and another brother,
Dr. Crittenden Joyes, who married first Lida Robinson, daughter of Worthington
Robinson, and later married Almeda Griggs, of Texas, lives in Fort Worth
and is the father of one child, Mary Griggs Joyes.
Catherine Joyes, daughter of Patrick and Anne O'Gara,
married William McGonigale, and was the mother of John McGonigale, of the
old surveying and real estate firm of Henning, McGonigale & Hobbs.
He married Josephine Miller Oldham, widow of George Oldham, and his children
are William J. McGonigale, Florence Joyes McGonigale and Mary McGonigale.
Nancy Joyes married Thomas Johnson, of Jefferson county,
and was the mother of Thomas Johnson, who married a sister of E. D. Standiford.
Thomas Johnson III married Betty Brooks, the father of
Brooks Johnson, of Edward Lee Johnson and of Etta Brooks Johnson, Mrs.
Edward C. Tyler.
Elizabeth Joyes married William H. Sale and was the mother
of William H. Sale, who married
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Della Nagle, father of Della Sale, Appeline Joyes Sale and of Hewett
Sale, of Chattanooga and Louisville. Another grandchild is Betty
Sale Reese, widow of Edward Reese, whose father was Charles Sale.
John Joyes, the youngest child of Patrick and Anne Joyes,
was born in 1799, was educated at St. Mary's College, studied and
practiced law, was the second Mayor of Louisville, and City Judge from
1835 to 1854. He married Harriet Lanier, daughter of Major Thomas Martin
Lanier, distinguished soldier of the Revolution. His daughter, Stella Joyes,
married James A. McAfee, of pioneer family, and was the mother of Annie
McAfee, who married Robert Dulaney, and has one son, Woodford Dulaney,
recently returned from service overseas, and of Leal McAfee.
Judge Joyes' daughter, Susan Joyes, married Major Edward
P. Byrne, of the Confederate Army, and her daughter, Harriet, married Heaton
Owsley, and was the mother of Edna Owsley, Mrs. Frederic Hill, of Chicago,
and of John Owsley, of New Haven, Conn., whose wife was Helen Hall.
A son, Clarence Joyes, married Mary Riddle and has a son,
William Joyes, who makes St. Louis his home. Judge Joyes' other sons were
gallant soldiers in the Confederate army:
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Capt. Erskine Joyes, who was killed in action, attached to Second Kentucky
Regiment; Lieut. John Joyes, who served under his brother-in-law, Major
Byrne, who commanded a Kentucky Battalion.
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